Deputy PM Carmel Sepuloni calls for apology from Winston Peters over ‘bizarre’ tweets about Jacinda Ardern

RNZ

Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni says NZ First leader Winston Peters’ tweets on what Dame Jacinda Ardern knew about the 15 March terror attacks before they happened are “bizarre” and incorrect.

Peters has accused the former prime minister of “an appalling lack of transparency” over what she knew about the terror attacks before they happened.

A spokesperson for the prime minister’s office said the tweet from Peters was “clearly inaccurate” and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni has called for an apology.

A timeline of what Ardern knew – and when – was reported widely at the time, and also addressed at a press conference the day after the attacks.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday evening, Peters said: “We waited until today to find out, for the first time, that the Prime Minister’s Office received information about the March 15 terrorist attack before the massacre took place.

“Jacinda Ardern should be called to the hearing and asked to explain this appalling lack of transparency to the New Zealand public – let alone to the Deputy Prime Minister and government coalition partner.”

Peters, who was deputy prime minister at the time of the attacks, said keeping “this basic information” hidden was unacceptable.

We waited until today to find out, for the first time, that the Prime Minister’s Office received information about the March 15 terrorist attack before the massacre took place. Jacinda Ardern should be called to the hearing and asked to explain this appalling lack of transparency…

— Winston Peters (@winstonpeters) October 25, 2023

At a press conference on 16 March, one day after the attacks took place, Ardern explained her office was sent the terrorist’s manifesto minutes before the first shots were fired.

“I was one of more than 30 recipients of a manifesto that was mailed out nine minutes before the attack took place,” she said.

“It did not include a location, it did not include specific details. I’m advised that within two minutes of its receipt in at least my office, it was conveyed directly to Parliamentary security.”

In a second tweet on Wednesday night, Peters said he himself had not been informed at the time, but that the information was made public at a press conference.

For those political apologists and feckless media, there is an existing transcript of a phone call made by the Prime Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister at the vital time of a crisis when a terrorist had just massacred innocent people. Not once were we transparently informed of…

— Winston Peters (@winstonpeters) October 25, 2023

Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni said the tweets were “a bit bizarre” and incorrect, and called for an apology from the New Zealand First leader.

“I would hope that Winston would actually apologise for those tweets because they are pushing misinformation,” she told First Up. “Jacinda didn’t try and hide anything – she was very transparent about what was happening at the time.”

Sepuloni said an apology would be the right thing to do but she would not hold out hope of one.

‘Just a nutter’

On Wednesday, the coronial inquest into the attacks heard a parliamentary staffer made a 111 call to police within two minutes of receiving the manifesto, after it was forwarded to them by the prime minister’s office.

The prime minister’s office received the email at 1.33pm and the parliamentary staffer at approximately 1.39pm. He called police at approximately 1.41pm.

While the staffer called 111, he also forwarded the email to the National Command and Coordination Centre, and later to the Southern Communications police team and its team leader.

The parliamentary staffer scanned the manifesto during the call and picked out information including the terrorist’s name, age, weapon he was intending to use and location of the attack.

The staffer also told the call taker that he thought the email had come from “just a nutter” and later said the more he read it, the more it appeared to be a “crank”.

Under cross-examination, the staffer said Parliament received a lot of correspondence from people who were mentally unstable and some of it was escalated to police.

On receiving this email, he said he believed it needed to be further followed up on and was why he reported it to police shortly after receiving it.

“I had no idea at the time it was going to lead to what it sadly led to,” he said.

The royal commission into the attacks concluded the Parliamentary Service acted appropriately in relation to the email within a period of time that was reasonable in the circumstances.

The manifesto was also sent to then-National leader Simon Bridges, then-Speaker Trevor Mallard, and some domestic and international media outlets. The email had gone to Jacinda Ardern’s generic inbox, one monitored by her office but not one she personally received.

A spokesperson for the prime minister said Peters’ tweet was completely inaccurate and he “should remove the tweet and post a correction”.